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All my life I've puzzled over the meaning of separating the leaven from the unleaven.
All year long it's kosher
to eat leaven, excepting for the week of Passover.
For the duration if the one week of Passover leaven is as unkosher
as pork or crayfish the whole year round.
We don't even know the reason why pork and crayfish are listed in the Bible
as unkosher, many sages have theorised about this but mostly are wrong, in my opinion, also those who say it's all a lot of
poppycock are wrong in my opinion.
It's one thing to pooh pooh an idea and it's another matter to discard the custom,as
many none observant Jews have done.
I'm not taking sides on the question of discarding the custom of not eating leavened
bread or of not eating pork, but I am strongly in support of thinking and studying to find out the reason for the practice
of these customs even though their origin is is shrouded in the mists of time.and the development of scientific knowledge.
The way to think is to ask ourselves what leavened bread and other leavend foods have got in common with pork, crayfish
and other unkosher foods?
The answer is simple; they might taste better. Taste, as everyone knows is different for
everyone: one likes beef another likes pork, some even like camel meat or shrimps; let's face it the world is a veritable
treasure house of variety of foods to flatter the palate of man. There is, however one simple condition to the ability of
a human being to be able to choose his food, that will not only keep him alive but will give him physical pleasure, he must
be a free man, if he's a slave he will not be free to make his choice of food according to his own likes or according to his
own wealth. His master chooses what food the slave will eat. He might even choose not to feed his slave.
Unleavened
bread is the food of the slave, anyway, this week the Jew must feel what it's like to be a slave. No choice, only unleavened
bread, it doesn't really matter if he likes it or not, the main thing is that as a slave his food is chosen for him.
What
about pork and crayfish? Well that's a similar idea but there are additional reasons for kosher and unkosher foods, one of
them is that God is the master of the Jew all year round, but there's much more to discuss there.
Wishing you all a wonderful
Passover celebration, may we all gain more understanding of Torah and achieve happiness in our lives through understanding.
Yours Truly
Leon Gork
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